Review - Kick-Ass 2

Kick-Ass 2 has arrived and while it doesn't create the same impact as the first film, it's still one hell of an entertaining ride. This is the type of film that makes going to the cinema fun.

Picking things up a few years after the events of the first film, Kick-Ass 2 finds our favourite superheroes Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) back in action. However this time out they are joined by more civilians turned superhero.

Kick-Ass comes across Justice Forever, a group of vigilantes fronted by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey), that includes Dr Gravity (Donald Faison), Night Bitch (Lindy Booth) and Battle Guy (Clark Duke), who is also Dave's best friend Marty.

That's not all either. With a group of superheroes joining together, Chris D'Amico (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) wants to become a super villain and becomes The Mother Fucker. He forms his own group of villains called The Toxic Mega Cunts to take Kick-Ass down once and for all, an act of revenge for the death of his father at the hands of Kick-Ass (aided by a bazooka).

The Mother Fucker enlists the help of Mother Russia (Olga Kurkulina), The Tumour (Andy Nyman), Black Death (Daniel Kaluuya) and Genghis Carnage (Tom Wu) in his war on superheroes.

This allows Kick-Ass 2 to be even more controversial than the first film. Yes the violence is at the same level and there is of course younger characters swearing left right and centre but it is the content of some of the jokes that will have some people, mainly from the Daily Mail, turning away in disgust. For instance, there is a scene in which The Mother Fucker has the intention to rape Night Bitch being played for laughs. I found the scene hilarious, maybe if it did carry on for a little too long, but for me that is part of the attraction to the Kick-Ass films. They are not afraid to push the boundaries to the limit and quite frankly I don't think they care if anyone has a problem with it.

There is so much fun to be had here and if you liked the first film, there is no reason at all for you to walk away disappointed.

The performances are again spot on and I imagine each and every member of the cast had an absolute blast filming. Aaron Taylor-Johnson excels as both the hero Kick-Ass and awkward teenager Dave Lizewski. Christopher Mintz-Plasse really surprised me with his ultra-dark turn as The Mother Fucker but he also has his McLovin moments as Chris D'Amico. Mintz-Plasse just performs the awkward comedy so well and I hope we see a lot more of it in the future.

The star of the show once again is Chloe Grace Moretz as Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl. She stole the show, just ahead of Nicolas Cage, in Kick-Ass and she is given plenty of opportunity here to do the same. I was always interested in how they were going to handle the non Hit-Girl side of her life. Well they knock it out of the park. One of the main story arcs throughout the film is how Mindy has to adjust to lead a normal life. 

That means putting Mindy in a high-school environment. She finds herself struggling right away and has to contend with the so called 'queen-bee' Brooke (Claudia Lee). She goes through some hard times making everyone wish for her to dish out some Hit-Girl justice. You will not be disappointed. A scene involving sick sticks is shocking to say the least and will have audiences laughing and gagging at the same time.  

Another scene involving the fascination of boy-bands and Union J is quite disturbing but brilliantly played out. It got one of the biggest laughs of the film. If Mean Girls was a play on the high-school genre, Kick-Ass 2 takes it to a whole new level, in some ways it's like the evil twin of Mean Girls.

I haven't mentioned any scenes with Hit-Girl in and while she is not in it as much as some people would like, she totally kicks ass when she is in it. The fight between Hit-Girl and Mother Russia in the film's finale, as ridiculous as it seems, is one of the highlights of the film.

Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) & Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz)

Much has been made of the appearance of Jim Carrey as Colonel Stars and Stripes in the build up to the films release. He pulled out of promoting the film due to not wanting to support the violence in the film. However, I was always going to judge him on his performance alone. I thought Carrey was good in the role but I was surprised that he was not in it as much as I thought he would be. 

Carrey is to Kick-Ass 2 what Nicolas Cage was to Kick-Ass. He is the big name star of the film in a role that is like nothing you have seen him in before. The only difference between the two is that Nicolas Cage was in the film a lot more. That enabled people to love him as Big Daddy but I just don't think people will take to Carrey's Colonel Stars and Stripes in the same way. 

Taking over in the director's chair this time round is Jeff Wadlow. After the fantastic job Matthew Vaughn did for the first film I was always worried about how a different director may give the film a different feel. I have never seen any of Wadlow's previous films but I am glad to say he did a good job in keeping the irresistible charm of the first film intact in the sequel.

Wadlow should also be praised for the script as he had to follow the great work of Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn. Thankfully, he keeps the script just as quick and sharp as the first film.

If there was one thing that was missing it would be a true stand-out scene that will blow you away. The first film had the scene where Hit-Girl rescues Big Daddy and Kick-Ass in a shootout involving strobe lighting and Adagio in D Minor. The whole scene was just epic. There is nothing like that here. However, that does not mean I think there aren't any good action scenes in Kick-Ass 2. The fight scenes are good, I mean we do see Mindy rescue Dave from a van full of five or six bad guys while it's moving full speed down the freeway. If that doesn't get the heart pumping I don't know what will.

Overall, while I would say Kick-Ass 2 doesn't quite reach the heights its predecessor did, it's still a very good film. Like the first, it is a breath of fresh air within the comic-book genre, just not as noticeable as this is the sequel. It's fun and entertaining, something that cannot be said for all releases this summer.

Whether you love it or hate it, the Kick-Ass films have made a mark on the comic-book genre.  I'm just excited to see how it could all end in Kick-Ass 3.

Verdict: 4/5